Gillings alum Cathy Bradley named as Colorado School of Public Health’s next dean

June 7, 2023

Dr. Cathy Bradley

Cathy J. Bradley, PhD, an alum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been named the next dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, effective Aug. 1.

Bradley, whose doctorate is in health policy and administration, is an internationally recognized expert in health services research and health economics. She studies health policy, health disparities and labor market outcomes of cancer survivors.

“I am incredibly excited and humbled to become the first female dean for the Colorado School of Public Health,” Bradley said. “It sets a different tone for the school, a different way of approaching problems. I am very happy to have that opportunity.”

Bradley currently serves as associate dean of research for the Colorado School of Public Health and deputy director for the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

“Cathy is a remarkable leader, well known and highly regarded at the school and on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus,” said current dean Jon Samet, MD, who has held the position since October 2017. “She takes over as the school continues on a great trajectory and she will undoubtedly take the Colorado School of Public Health into new realms. I look forward to seeing the work she will accomplish as dean.”

A first-generation college graduate, Bradley says she developed her passion for public health and health policy as a graduate student at UNC. She began her career in academia at Michigan State University, where she was drawn to researching cancer-related health care policies and disparities.

She later headed the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research at Virginia Commonwealth University before joining the CU Anschutz Medical Campus as the Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and professor of health systems, management and policy for the Colorado School of Public Health in 2015.

During her tenure at CU Anschutz, Bradley became the first health economist deputy director of a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. As associate dean for research, she has been integral, alongside Dean Samet, in nearly doubling the Colorado School of Public Health’s National Institutes of Health-funded research portfolio.

In the course of her career, Bradley has become a renowned health economist who effects change on a national scale.

“I chose public health to change things for the population,” she said. “I want to help improve health and health care access for everyone, not just one person at a time. We can reach the most lives through policy, health care delivery and making changes to prevent diseases from ever occurring.”

See the original announcement from CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.